Week 5 Column: Baseball's Final 4, NFL ReCap, and Lots of Other Stuff

This is when the tons of research I do comes in handy for you, my loyal reader. I am sure that you have not heard about this, but TBS is launching a new late night show starring Frank Calliendo called Frank TV. He does impressions. You know, you would think they would use the large audience they are getting for the baseball playoffs to publicize this new show. They really missed the boat on that one....

Speaking of over saturated advertising, I am willing to kick in $100 to John Cougar to write a new song for Chevy advertising. Hasn't that dumb song hit "wear-out" status by now? Anybody else want to start a grass roots campaign to get a new diddy...

In case you actually read and were interested in my Ken Follett book review in August (Pillars of the Earth), today Follett releases his long anticipated sequel to Pillars, called World Without End. For a review of that book and a little insight and background on Follett, click here.

In case you did not notice (and I know you did Gosk), my picks to win the divisional series won 1 games out of 13 played, losing all four series decisively. By the way, I am now taking bids from fans of the four remaining playoff teams to pick against them in the League Championship Series.

The Phillies hit a hefty .172 in getting swept by the Rockies in three straight. In a symmetrical note, they ended the season the same exact way they started it, with three straight losses. In between they battled with great heart and determination. The Phillies had some fatal flaws that were the result of a General Manager in Pat Gillick who did a poor job getting the right pieces in place. They simply did not have the pitching depth, on either the starting staff or in the pen, to win a championship. Ironically, it was their hitting (or lack thereof) that pulled the plug on this season.

In the other National League series, Arizona continues to slide under the radar and just keeps winning, sweeping the highly publicized Cubs in three easy games. Do not underestimate the Baby Back, even if the star of their divisional series is related to that swine J.D. Drew.

The Yankees did not win the World Series for the 7th straight year. The good news is that A-Rod had more RBI's in this series than he did in his previous two playoff campaigns combined. That bad news is that he only had 1 RBI, hit .267, and probably ensured his exit from the Bronx in the offseason. In his last three seasons in the playoffs, A-Fraud is hitting .159 (7-for-44), with 4 runs scored, 1 home run, and 1 RBI. At $25 million a year (no matter who is paying it), that is simply not enough. I am not saying that A-Rod was the reason they lost. In fact, far from it. Jeter was not his usual clutch self. The Yankees as a team were horrible with runners in scoring position (and they did not get that many there in the first place), and Chien Ming Wang was awful in both starts. It seemed to me his stuff was nowhere near where it was last year at this time, when he was basically unhittable. Ultimately, it is time for Torre to go. He has been a great (not good) manager that fit the Yankee team perfectly, but this team has lost its last four postseason series (including losing the 3-0 lead to Boston in 2004) and with their talent and payroll, that is just not good enough. A-Rod, too should go. He has not delivered when it has mattered most, and the Yankees would be better off taking the $30 million Scott Boras will want for him to stay and getting a front line starter (Johan Santana?) and a very good 3rd baseman.

Did I really have to stay up to see the Cowboys score 9 points in the last 20 seconds to beat Buffalo? Yuck. And to watch Jerry Jones and his plastic surgery jump up and down like a five year old, double yuck. It is good to see that T.O. still knows how to drop passes with the best of them.

I may have no clue what I am doing when picking baseball games, and no idea who will win college football games (I used to, I swear!), but at least my NFL picks are back over .500 with another solid 4-2 week.

It is time to narrow the goalposts in the NFL to about half of their current width. Field goal kicker have simply gotten too good, and the existing dimensions are obsolete. Carolina, Houston, and Dallas won their games as time expired with 52, 57, and 53 yard field goals. 50+ field goals are not even that big a deal for a decent kicker any more.

Brett Favre aged about 12 years at halftime the other night. He went from being the Brett Favre of the early to mid '90s back to being the Brett Favre of 2007 during the break. They looked awful in the second half, and it will be interesting to watch how the next week or two go for the Packers. Do not be surprised if it all starts to fall apart.

In other news, it was nice to see a Tar Heel exposed as a liar, a cheater and a fraud when Marion Jones admitted to using steroid, although of course she never knew it and was not aware it was happening! Way to represent your country, Marion, now go live the rest of your life in shame.

Don't look now, but October 15th is next Monday, and that means college hoops is right around the corner....